Lung cancer vaccine discovered in Cuba?

Do you think it is rather ironic that a country like Cuba who produces some of the best cigars around, have managed to stumble upon a therapeuitc vaccine against lung cancer, touted to be the world’s first? Yes, I too, find it rather hard to believe, but with lung cancer being quite the astute killer (5-year survival rate for late-stage lung cancer can be less than 1%), perhaps this dose of good news is what the world needs considering what you read in the papers and watch on TV, seeing wave after wave of depressing news.

The vaccine is known as CimaVax-EGF, where it will target both stage 3 and stage 4 lung cancer patients who have failed to exhibit any kind of positive response to other treatment methods including chemotherapy and radiotherapy. While the vaccine will not offer a cure, it is said to minimize the cancer’s growth as it possesses antibodies which are able to combat the proteins that allow uncontrolled cell growth.

Turning cancer into a “manageable, chronic disease by generating antibodies against the proteins which triggered the uncontrolled cell proliferation,” according to Gisela Gonzalez at the Center of Molecular Immunology (CIM) in Havana, this discovery might just help those who are flirting with death at the moment. What kind of cancer treatments do you think work best?